I am a home-school mom hoping to share the challenges, joys and disappointments in home-schooling,be an encouragement to others, seek advise and wisdom from those who have come before me and offer my insight to different curriculum by posting product reviews, etc

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Not Quite Dead (A Lowcountry Ghost Story)

Not Quite Dead

by Lyla
Payne

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

A
broken engagement sends Graciela Harper crawling back to Heron Creek with her
tail between her legs, but finds the sleepy little town too changed to set her
life right. Not even her budding drinking problem can obscure her Gramps’s
failing health, or erase the mental picture of her first love happily married
to her childhood best friend. To top it all off, she’s having a heck of time
convincing the town’s dashing young mayor of her unfit-for-dating status.

When
the ghost of 18th century lady pirate Anne Bonny starts insisting on a near
daily audience, Graciela has to confront something else she never
expected—being certifiably nuts at twenty-five years old.

Her
brand new "I don't give a crap" attitude makes it easy to dismiss the
mysterious threats that seem to be tied to her search for more information on
the long dead pirate, but when her family becomes a target, Gracie knows she
needs to find out why the ghost insists on being a constant, reeking companion.

If
Graciela can put aside her prejudice against people without a pulse, she may
discover that Anne Bonny’s problems are intricately linked with her own. The
past harbors answers could help the cantankerous spirit find closure, but she
is, after all, already dead. If Graciela doesn’t move fast, she might find
herself doing the haunting, instead of the other way around.

~My Impressions~

I myself am not a huge fan of paranormal/ghost book, but I decided to give this one a try. The cover made me curious to see what the book held and I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book. Graciela is a marvelous character that is wrote with such life and emotions that you are drawn into her world instantly. Narrated by Gracie she comes across as overly whiny sitting on her pity party that it turned me off to her character at moments. Other than that I really liked her.

I adored the historical elements of this story, but I really loved all the intense drama throughout the book. The plot is well developed and has all the elements you would expect to find in a good paranormal/ghost book including mystery, ghosts, drama, danger, tragedy and a little romance sprinkled in for good measures. I would caution though on letting a younger audience read this, its defiantly for your 18 and up crowd due to the violence throughout including issues such as spousal abuse.Although there is so much more to this book then that violence. Themes of hope, forgiveness, and reconciliation run throughout it that you cannot miss.

~Giveaway~Lyla will be awarding a $20 Bookstore GC
(winner's choice) to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour, a Signed
paperback of NOT QUITE DEAD + swag (US only) to another randomly drawn
commenter and a final prize of an eBook set of THE ROSE GARDNER MYSTERIES by
Denise Grover Swank to one more randomly drawn commenter during the tour.

Please use this Rafflecopter code for entries:

~Excerpt~

No one notices me leave the sidewalk and traipse around to
the rear of my place of employment. It’s darker back here, away from any street
lamps and lit signs. The unlocked window slides up under the pressure of my
palm with no resistance and, most importantly, no noise. I have to jump a few
times before my hands hook the sill, and it’s clear that I need to do more than
walk to work if I’m going to get back into shape.

My grunts don’t carry far, and after a few more minutes of
trial and error, I manage to hoist my hips over the painted wooden lip. It digs
in, scraping hard enough that it’ll leave a bruise, but there’s no time to
worry about that while my body is dangling half in, half out. The chance that
anyone will wander back here seems slim, but there’s no excuse in the world
that will work if I get caught like this.

I kick my feet and use my forearms to tug my body forward,
which doesn’t work, until it does. I fly through the rest of the way, toppling
face-first into the edge of the toilet.

"Holy shitballs, that’s gonna leave a mark."
Quoting Tommy Boy, even to myself, is usually good for a chuckle, but at the
moment my face feels as though it’s made of broken glass and pulsing pain.

My nose throbs, my vision blurs, and it takes more than five
minutes of sitting still with my head between my knees before the dizziness
subsides enough to allow me to stagger to my feet. The mirror reveals a weeping
red line across the bridge of my nose, which promises to turn into at least one
black eye. So much for Gramps not noticing I went out.

Oh, well. Onward and upward.

There’s no alarm system in the library, and no one else is
in the building. Neither fact makes me slow down or feel less watched, and my
steps move quickly toward the front desk. Mrs. LaBadie keeps her key in the
locked top drawer, but she doesn’t know about my long and storied career
picking locks with nothing but unbent hairpins. Another Nancy Drew–inspired
talent. The multiple Carolyn Keenes had no idea what kind of delinquents she
would spawn with those books.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Lyla Payne
has been publishing New Adult romance novels for a little over a year, starting
with Broken at Love and continuing with the rest of the Whitman University
series. She loves telling stories, discovering the little reasons people fall
in love, and uncovering hidden truths in the world around us - past and
present. In her spare time she cuddles her two dogs, pretends to enjoy
exercising so that she can eat as much Chipotle as she wants, and harbors a
deep and abiding hope that Zac Efron likes older women. She loves reading, of
course, along with movies, traveling, and Irish whiskey. Lyla's hard at work,
ALWAYS, and hopes to bring you more Whitman University antics and at least one
more Lowcountry ghost tale before the end of the year.

I received a free copy of this book/Ebook/Product to review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations. I am part of The Goddess Fish Review Crew.